I Remember
by The Cursed Shadow
Summary: Who really saved Elena the night her parents went off the bridge?
1. Chapter 1

She can hear her boots click against the pavement. Her original plan was to enter Mystic Falls that day. She knew what she wanted, but she also knew what was best. Her motto had always been to get what she wanted. Now she wasn't so sure.

It had been over five hundred years since she felt this uncertainty. It was a long time, even for a vampire. Yet only now did she feel a desire to do something that could be remotely considered good.

She wanted to tell her. She wanted to tell that one human who made her feel something in the entire world. She wanted to let her know, she wanted to pour every single emotion she'd refused to feel into what she could give that one girl.

She shook her head. She was letting her emotions take over her need for survival. After an hour of pacing, pondering and rage, she decided she would leave Mystic Falls.

It wasn't the right time. There was absolutely no reason to be in town, and she knew Stefan Salvatore was coming. He hadn't arrived, but he was coming. She had hoped to get to the girl first, but now she saw that was impossible. She wasn't right for Elena. It was clear as day.

Elena needed someone pure. She needed someone good; someone who she knew was going to be there for her. Katherine knew Stefan's past all too well. She knew the beast he tried to contain. She also knew how he'd learned to control it, and she envied him.

She envied his self-control. She envied how she knew he would win the girl's heart. He was kind and tender while she was dangerous and easily angered. Just by thinking about how she would have to see her previous love with her current drove her into rage.

She grabbed a branch of a nearby tree and snapped it in two easily. She wanted something else to break. She wanted to hear the snap of a human's neck when she was finished draining them of blood. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Flicking it away, she tried to shut off her humanity, but she was distracted by a loud crash.

She sped to Wickery Bridge, the source of the commotion. She heard a vampire speed away. Briskly, she walked to the edge of the bridge and saw a car underwater. She recognized the scent: Elena.

Without thinking twice she dove off the bridge into the water. She held her breath, knowing if water got into her lungs it would be excruciatingly painful. She swam down to the car taking in the sight. The mother was already unconscious, and then she saw Elena.

Her first instinct was to grab Elena, but she saw Elena's father struggling. She easily ripped away the doors of the left side of the car. He shook his head and pointed to Elena. She wasn't breathing. The father shook his head once again but Katherine didn't need to be told twice.

She grabbed Elena from the car and swam to the surface as quickly as she could. When their heads broke she quickly gasped in a breath of air and brought Elena to the shore, setting her down softly to the ground.

She pushed on Elena's chest, watching as the young human coughed the water out of her lungs. Elena shivered and looked up at Katherine, her eyes wide with shock.

"Who are you?" she asked, panting, trying to regain her breath.

"Not important," Katherine replied, keeping her face stoic.

She watched Elena's eyes roam her figure. Noticing every curve and every physical feature.

"How do we look exactly alike?" Elena asked.

Katherine chuckled, "You're asking the wrong questions," she replied.

Elena looked at her surroundings and sat up. Katherine couldn't help the sharp intake of breath she made when she felt Elena's hand on her knee for support.

"Where are my parents?" Elena asked, still looking around.

Katherine shook her head and looked to the lake. Elena followed her gaze and began to cry. Elena attempted to stand, but before she could Katherine wrapped her arms around the human.

Elena screamed. She begged for Katherine to let go, begged for Katherine to get her parents back. Katherine held tightly to her doppelganger, using a limited amount of strength to keep Elena from diving into the water after her parents.

After a few moments of yelling Elena's screams turned to sobs. Elena blindly let her head rest on Katherine's chest. Katherine put her arms around her human doppelganger and held her, feeling her body tremble with each sob.

Katherine ran her fingers through Elena's hair, hushing her human relative quietly as she held her. Katherine knew this moment was too good to last. She could hear the sirens in the distance, even though they hadn't hit Elena's eardrums yet.

She laid a kiss on the top of Elena's head. Elena turned to look up at Katherine, her eyes red and puffy from her sobs, and a tear escaped her eye. Katherine brushed the tear away gently with her thumb, careful not to apply pressure, afraid Elena would break.

Elena brought her lips to Katherine's cheek, lingering. Katherine felt the warmth in her cheek from her blushing. Elena removed her lips away and gazed into Katherine's eyes as if she could see every emotion the vampire had attempted to conceal, their faces only inches apart.

"Thank you," Elena whispered.

Katherine cupped Elena's cheek in her hand and felt her own pupils dilate, knowing what she had to do.

"Forget me," she whispered to Elena, "forget you ever saw me. When Stefan Salvatore tells you he rescued you from this accident you will believe him."

She paused to watch Elena's pupils dilate in response to the compulsion. She smiled, but it was a bittersweet smile.

"Now sleep," Katherine compelled her sweetly, "sleep until you're strong enough to wake."

Katherine watched as Elena's eyelids began to flutter. She laughed as her human look alike attempted to stay awake, but a human could only be so strong. Katherine smiled when Elena fell limply into her arms.

After a few moments Katherine laid Elena onto the soft grass, pushing a wet strand of hair out of her face. She brought her face down to Elena's and didn't stop herself when she planted a kiss onto Elena's lips. When she had finished lingering she brought her lips to Elena's ear.

"I love you my doppelganger," she whispered, knowing Elena wouldn't hear her words or remember their encounter.

She sped away, and from the distant trees, she watched as the paramedics put Elena into the ambulance. She saw Stefan watching from the other side, closer to Elena than she would be in a long time. Not wishing to think about how she would have to see Stefan with her love, she sped away, not returning to Mystic Falls for a long time.

Elena gasped for air. What happened? She remembered telling Stefan to save Matt, but after that everything went dark. She looked around, seeing all the medical equpment. She sat up quickly and stared at her surroundings, still confused and in shock.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She expected to see Stefan but flinched when she saw the twin pair of brown eyes looking down at her.

"For a second I thought I was going to have to kiss you, Sleeping Beauty," Katherine said teasingly, a smirk etched on her face.

Elena looked up at Katherine, admiring the twinkle in her doppelganger's eyes. She put her hand on Katherine's neck and bravely put a kiss to the older vampire's cheek.

She pulled away and saw the confusion in Katherine's eyes. Elena even saw the slightest hint of vulnerability, or stranger yet, affection.

"I remember."


	2. Why?

Katherine raised her eyebrow at her newly vampire doppelganger. She knew compulsion would wear off but she wasn't exactly sure how much Elena would remember in such a short amount of time.

"Remember what, exactly?" Katherine asked. A suggestive tone embedded in her voice.

She knew exactly what Elena meant. The night at bridge, the one night she had found courage to admit how she really felt. Since then she had shut her humanity away. She remembered exactly how dangerous it was to cling to foolish emotions such as love.

Yet this girl, this one girl, who was human the last time they saw each other, managed to bring her feelings to the surface. What she really wanted to do was grab Elena and take her far away from Mystic Falls, far away from where she would be in danger. She cursed herself mentally for being such a romantic.

"You know what I remember," Elena said, her tone obviously showed she was irritated, yet it cracked.

Katherine was puzzled. Over the centuries she'd become very good at reading human emotions, but Elena's emotions were jumbled. She was confused, scared, sad, and hurt at the same time.

She couldn't help but remember part of her human life where she had felt so lost. Every emotion she felt jumbled together as one. She didn't know what to feel, what to think, or even whom to be.

"Enlighten me," Katherine told Elena, removing herself from her thoughts to focus on Elena.

Elena scowled at her elder doppelganger but Katherine only smirked. She tried to see what was on Katherine's mind, but failed, she had never been able to tell what Katherine was planning, but she never wanted to.

She wanted Katherine to surprise her, and as much as she hated to admit it, thinking about Katherine when she was human helped her get out of bed in the morning.

Katherine was so strong. Klaus killed her entire family and yet for five hundred years she survived. She survived because she was strong, and Elena had envied her.

"The night on the bridge," Elena said, "You saved me."

"What about it?" Katherine asked, shrugging off her act of humanity as if it were something she did because she was bored.

"Why?" Elena asked, her eyes flickering back and forth as she thought, trying to conjure any reason for Katherine to save her.

"Well," Katherine said with a sigh as she cocked her hip, "couldn't exactly hand you over to Klaus if you were dead."

Elena shook her head, "That's not the real reason Katherine," she told her twin, "you and I both know that."

"Really?" Katheirne asked, a glimmer of mischief in her eye, "Fine. Try to go through my mind and find other reasoning for saving you, Elena. There won't be any."

"That's not true," Elena argued, "You stopped me from trying to save my parents."

"You would've drowned yourself, Elena," Katherine said, her tone said _drop it_, but Elena pressed on.

"You held me when I cried."

"And?"

"You comforted me!" Elena's voice growing louder with each observation she reminded Katherine of.

Katherine raised her eyebrow, "And?"

Elena stood from the table and brought herself face to face with Katherine, "You cared!" she yelled.

Elena was breathing heavily from her anger, but Katherine remained calm. Her face still twisted in a smirk and her eyes still glimmered in a way Elena couldn't get enough of.

"Funny," Katherine said with a small laugh, "You talk in the past."

"Why shouldn't I?" Elena asked, trailing off when she saw Katherine's body language change for a split second.

For one single moment Katherine's shoulders slumped and her eyes, instead of shining with mischief, gleamed with regret and pain. It all vanished in an instant, and Elena began stammering.

"You turned off your humanity," Elena said.

"I thought that was obvious," Katherine drawled.

"Not now," Elena said, "Back then. When you left you turned off your humanity. That's why you came back and tried to get Stefan back."

Katherine scoffed, "Stefan?" she asked, as if saying his name were disgusting, "You really believe I came back for _Stefan_?"

"That's what you said," Elena laughed and stomped her foot, causing Katherine to raise her eyebrow.

"Why didn't I see it before?" Elena said, "You lied. That's what you do, Katherine. You lie and cheat your way out of situations. You lie your way into peoples' hearts. You lie to get everything you want. So tell me the real reason. You've been lying to me for a year, I deserve the truth."

"You _want _the truth, Elena," Katherine said, "there's a difference."

"This isn't fair!" Elena yelled.

"Life isn't fair, Elena," Katherine said, anger seeping from her voice, resisting the ever so tempting urge to snap Elena's neck.

"Don't you think I know that!" Elena couldn't stop the warm tear from falling down her cheek, "I've lost so many people! I've lost almost every single person in my family! Vampires took everything from me; I never wanted to be one! You killed Jenna!"

"I didn't kill her, Elena," Katherine yelled, "Klaus did!"

"You put her right into his hands!" Elena yelled louder than Katherine, ignoring all the tears that smeared her face and created a small pool on the tile floor. "It was either her or me, Elena," Katherine said, calming down, "I chose her."

"That's because you never think about anyone but yourself Katherine," Elena said, her voice catching in her throat every once in a while.

Before Elena could do anything Katherine had her pinned against the wall. Elena could feel Katherine's hand at her throat, but she wasn't choking. She couldn't feel any pain at all. The truth of it was Katherine wasn't hurting her.

"I watched over you for seventeen years!" Katherine said, her voice laced with rage.

"Why?" Elena asked.

"Isobel asked me to! With your precious Salvatores in town I couldn't get anywhere near you! I was hoping they might be able to protect you, but I was wrong!"

"That's what you hate," Elena said calmly, "You hate that you were wrong."

"I hate that you died twice and I couldn't do anything about it!" Katherine's fist found the wall in under a second. When she pulled her fist away her knuckles were broken and scratched, her hand in a seemingly impossible position. The wounds healed quickly, but not before blood could pool on the floor.

"And now," Katherine seethed, breathing heavily hoping to regain control, "you're a vampire."

Elena was let down from the wall. She put a hand to her throat but found no wounds, no mark made by Katherine. Elena could see how gentle Katherine was being. She'd never seen Katherine's truly ruthless side, but she'd also never seen Katherine being so soft.

"Why did you come back?" Elena asked, a single tear running down her cheek.

"For you."


	3. Who Are You?

Elena sighed as she walked through the door of her house. It was two days since she'd woken up in the hospital with Katherine. She drank a bag of blood to complete the transition, but when she found Stefan he was telling her he would find a way to make her human again.

She didn't like it. She didn't like that he was trying to convince her to do something she didn't want. She'd told him she knew he lied about rescuing her the night her parents died only moments ago.

He had the nerve to lie and say he did, but she told him the truth. She told him she remembered Katherine saved her. When he started stammering she sped away.

"Elena," Stefan said from outside the door.

She turned to look at him, the only emotion she felt was anger, she hated him for lying to her.

"Please wait," he begged.

She closed the door so she wouldn't have to hear anymore. As she rubbed her temple with her hand she walked up the stairs to her room and began pacing.

"Salvatores," she muttered to herself, "Why do they always have to lie or get in my business."

"Trouble in paradise?" a voice said.

Elena quickly turned. Katherine lounged on the shelf under her window wearing a smirk.

"Knock knock," Elena couldn't help but give a smile at the sight of her doppelganger, but she quickly tried to hide it.

"I thought you'd left town," she said, concealing the joy she felt that Katherine was there with her.

Katherine raised her eyebrow, "Why would I want to do that?"

"Thought you were bored of Mystic Falls," Elena said, blushing slightly at her own thoughts.

Katherine laughed, "Mystic Falls is never boring," she admitted, "Dangerous, yes, boring, not so much."

Katherine saw Elena's eyes wander. Katherine tried to get into her twin's head, but at the moment it seemed impossible.

"You never answered my question," the elder vampire reminded Elena.

"What?" Elena asked, being torn from her thoughts by Katherine.

"Trouble in paradise," Katherine said.

Elena sighed, "Can we just not talk about it?" she asked, sighing as she plopped down on her bed.

Katherine stood and walked to Elena. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stood in front of the young vampire. Elena's eyes gave away her emotions and Katherine couldn't help but smirk.

She could see everything Elena was feeling in her eyes. They were exactly the same as her own, but so full of life and emotion. For a moment Katherine became lost in Elena's eyes, remembering the times when she allowed herself to feel, she quickly cast it out of her mind, not wanting to feel the pain she felt two days ago when she had her last discussion with Elena.

She watched as Elena held her face in her hands and placed her elbows on her knees. She was hunched over with her shoulders slumped and eyes closed. Katherine chuckled as she sat down on the bed next to Elena. She wasn't surprised Elena had her human qualities; she hadn't been a vampire for very long.

Elena looked back up at Katherine, and was confused by the flash of genuine concern she saw in her eyes. She pouted as she sat up and slumped her shoulders. She immediately sunk into the older vampire's touch when she felt Katherine's hand holding her cheek.

Katherine smirked at Elena as she pushed hair out of her face with her thumb.

"What's bothering you?" she asked, trying to cover the sympathy she felt for Elena.

She knew Elena saw through her flimsy attempt to hide her feelings. Cursing mentally she reminded herself not to be so human, but with Elena it was natural, she didn't feel like the monster everyone thought she was.

"Stefan," Elena said with a sigh.

Katherine removed her hand quickly from holding Elena's cheek. She never liked mentioning the Salvatores, after all, they weren't her pawns anymore. They meant nothing to her, not when there was someone who meant so much more than they ever had.

"Why am I not surprised?" Katherine asked, giving Elena smirk, which made Elena smile in return.

"I told him," Elena paused and turned her face away from Katherine, "never mind."

"Elena," Katherine said gently, causing Elena to shyly look back at her, "tell me."

For a moment Elena considered what she was doing. She wondered why Katherine would care at all. Her mind told her it was none of Katherine's business but her heart said exactly the opposite.

"I told Stefan I remembered you saved me," Elena said quietly, not sure how Katherine would react.

Katherine nodded, "Go on," she edged.

Elena felt her breath rattle in her throat, "He told me he saved me and not you."

"Do you believe him?" Katherine asked with a quizzical raise of her eyebrow.

"What?" Elena said, turning her head sharply to look at Katherine, "Why would you think that?"

Katherine shrugged. For the first time in five hundred years she had no idea what to say or think. She doubted Elena's trust of her. She had never been the kindest person before. Now, when she tried to make a difference in who she was, she knew it wouldn't be easy, but there at least had to be an attempt.

"I remembered you, Katherine," Elena said strongly, "Not Stefan, you. I don't know why you saved me. Maybe it was for one of your schemes or games."

Katherine was hurt, but she effectively concealed it. Somehow no one knew just what emotions she was capable of.

Elena sighed, "After so long I thought I finally knew why I was still alive," she paused, her breath catching in her throat, "and even that was a lie."

Katherine sighed as Elena's words hit her. The softness of her voice affected her physically. Katherine understood, although no one would expect it, she knew how Elena felt. For over two centuries she had to be Katherine Pierce. She liked the name, but at times she missed being Katerina. She missed being the innocent human who believed in love.

"You saved me," Elena said, practically whispering, "and I never got to thank you."

It was Katherine's turn to be surprised. She turned her head to Elena, watching as a tear ran down her cheek. Katherine cocked her head to the side, confused yet intrigued.

Elena rested her hand on top of Katherine and watched as the older vampire flinched. Her hand was rested softly under her own. She looked into Katherine's eyes and saw something she'd never seen before: love. She saw love and warmth in Katherine's eyes, but it was shielded quickly as Katherine put up her walls again.

"Don't do that," Elena said, still staring into Katherine's beautiful eyes.

"Do what?" Katherine asked, trying to put a smirk on her face, trying to hide everything she ever wanted to feel.

"Don't shut people out," Elena said, comfortingly stroking the back of Katherine's hand.

Katherine turned her head away from Elena. She couldn't. She couldn't allow herself to feel. There were so many emotions that would get in her way. She refused to let anyone inside for so long. In truth, she didn't know how to love, anymore.

"I should go," Katherine said, looking back at Elena.

She stood up, shaking Elena's hand off of her own. She turned towards the window when she felt Elena tug her arm. She turned back to her younger doppelganger.

"Will you stay in Mystic Falls?" Elena asked, her brown eyes pleading.

Katherine sighed, "Okay," she said, trying to start feeling, but when the guilt hit her, she turned off her humanity again.

Elena smiled, and it brightened Katherine's mood. Katherine turned to leave again when she was pulled into Elena's embrace. She was stunned; she stood still, tensing up as Elena's arms curled around her.

After several moments Katherine slowly wrapped her arms around Elena, returning the embrace. Her grip was soft; she hadn't been in an embrace for so long. She had forgotten how it was done or even why.

"I have to go, Elena," Katherine lied, she simply wanted out of Elena's room so she could think.

Elena pulled away and nodded, "Can we talk tomorrow?" she asked, a hopeful gleam in her brown eyes.

Katherine nodded, "Of course," she said, giving in to Elena's wishes.

"See you then," Elena said, a smile on the corner of her lips.

Katherine chuckled and winked before she sped out of the house, enjoying the supernatural speed.

She stopped in the middle of the forest when she saw a familiar face. His arms were crossed over his chest and he stood with his black hair slightly spiked on his head.

"Tyler," Katherine gasped out, pretending to be Elena, "you're supposed to be dead."

"Sorry, love," Tyler said with a British accent, "but I'm not Tyler."

Katherine's eyes widened with fear, "Klaus," she gasped out.

She turned to run, but Klaus was already in front of her. She cried in agony as the wooden stake was driven through her sternum and into her chest.

**AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing. All readers are appreciated. I'm also thinking about doing a fanfic about Tatia/Katherine or Rebekah/Elijah, or maybe Rebekah/Katherine. So keep your eye out and if you have any ideas they are appreciated. Thanks again.**


	4. I'm Drowning

Katherine woke to find herself trapped in a wooden chair. Her wrists and ankles bound to the chair with metal bands soaked in vervain. Her skin was steaming and the stake was still protruding from her chest.

She attempted to move her arms to try and get free. Just when she thought she was making progress getting her wrist out of the chains a wooden stake was driven into her arm, going entirely through the flesh and into the wooden chair.

She cried from surprise and looked up at the figure that staked her: Klaus in Tyler Lockwood's body. She glared at him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of crying out again.

He stabbed another stake through her left arm, trapping it to the arm of the wooden chair. She wanted to cry out again, but she forced herself to remain silent. He smirked at her, cruel pleasure shining in his eyes.

"Why are you doing this, Klaus?" she asked, "The Petrova line is over. There is no more way to make hybrids."

He chuckled at her, increasing her hatred of him, "I never got my fill of torturing you for running."

She felt her eyes widen, but quickly regained her composure. Before she could continue the conversation he grabbed the stake in her chest and twisted it, shoving it deeper and puncturing her lung.

She could feel the blood pool in her lungs and climbing up her throat. When she tried to breathe nothing but blood came out. She coughed it up, attempting to keep her airway open.

Klaus/Tyler stood in front of her with another wooden stake in his hand. She knew the torture wasn't going to stop, but she hadn't expected what was coming next.

He drove the stake through her windpipe and left it there, blocking the airway entirely. The blood welled beneath the stake. She couldn't cough it up and she couldn't breathe. Katherine was permanently drowning in her own blood.

Klaus delicately placed two fingers under Katherine's chin, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Having fun yet?" he asked tauntingly.

If she was capable she would have spat blood in his face, but she couldn't. The only thing she could do was remain silent as he drove another stake into her shoulder, twisting it as he tortured her.

The stake in her throat helped to keep quiet, but it hurt. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak, and she couldn't do anything except watch and feel as every stake entered her flesh. The final stake he drove went near her stomach.

"I'll be back tomorrow, Katerina," he said.

Klaus sped away, leaving her to brood in darkness, the only light coming from behind her. She knew where she was, the cage where Mason Lockwood used to shift during the full moon.

She doubted anyone would ever find her. She was going to die, but not yet. It was going to be slow and tedious, but more importantly, it was going to be excruciating.

She shed a single tear. As it fell down her cheek she reflected on the things she wished she had done. She wished she had told Elena how she felt sooner, because now she might never know.

She knew how ridiculous it sounded, but she wanted her doppelganger to know. She scoffed mentally. She was being foolish; Elena wouldn't choose her, who did? Katherine knew she was hated in Mystic Falls, but she didn't care.

She came back for one purpose and one purpose alone: to protect Elena. She had done so for seventeen years, she was returning from a slight vacation when Elena's parents went off the bridge.

She had admitted her feelings that night, but Elena hadn't heard. She knew that was for certain. She was unconscious when she did so. Katherine cursed herself mentally.

How could she be such a coward? How was accepting humanity so hard for her? Every time she let her humanity back in she felt the guilt for every victim she'd killed, which was quite the list.

For so long she'd been proud. The red ambroisa dripping from her lips as she drained every human of blood was so delicious. She'd been so proud. She had to learn to survive on her own.

Her parents had disowned her because of a ridiculous mistake. Since then she hadn't had a parental figure to teach her right from wrong. Sure she knew the difference, but she didn't care.

For so long she'd ignored the teachings of her parents. They were dead, what did they mean to her anymore? In truth they meant very little, but as she thought, she thought more and more about Elena.

She thought about how Elena was innocent, and most likely would do everything in her power never to harm a human for her entire existence. The blood in her throat interrupted her thoughts.

She tried to move the stake by coughing, but every movement she made just increased her pain. After an hour she gave up on removing the stake from her throat. She didn't need to breathe, being a vampire, but she wasn't exactly content with drowning.

_I'm sorry_, she thought to herself, _I'm so sorry, Elena. I'm sorry I ever thought about giving you to Klaus. I'm sorry about Jenna. I'm sorry about all the pain I've ever put you through. I wish I could tell you in person. God, I wish I could see your face one last time._

_ I love you._

Elena paced her bedroom as she'd been doing for hours. Katherine was supposed to meet her last week. Did she leave town? She said she wouldn't, although, Katherine was Katherine. She sighed, looking at the date on her calendar.

_Oh no, _she thought mentally.

It was Tyler's birthday. No doubt Caroline would be huddled in her room sobbing. She felt so bad for her friend. Alaric had killed Klaus, which killed Tyler. She wished she could tell Caroline how sorry she was that she and Tyler were caught up in the supernatural.

Elena shook her head as she thought about how it was Katherine's fault Tyler was a werewolf. Well, not entirely of course, but she was the one who caused his curse to be activated.

She put the thought out of her mind. She wouldn't blame Katherine. She wouldn't be like everyone else in Katherine's life. She wouldn't hate her doppelganger, she couldn't.

She picked flowers from her front yard and walked into the forest. She was going to the place where Tyler died, the cave where he would chain himself to the wall and break every bone in his body.

He was a werewolf. He was dangerous to vampires; he could've killed Caroline. She still stayed with him. She stayed with him during his transformations because she loved him. Some called it stupid and foolish, but Elena called it being brave.

Elena wished she could be that brave sometimes. She had so many things to say but she was afraid to. She wasn't good at hiding her emotions from people, either, which made it easy for other people to want to protect her.

She didn't need protecting. She was a vampire. She wasn't some defenseless little human anymore. She thought about Katherine and how she had stayed alive. Sure her doppelganger had made a few wrong choices but it didn't make her a bad person.

She'd made mistakes. Everyone had at some point in his or her lives, even the Salvatores. She thought about how she had strung them along for so long. Now she was starting to doubt her feelings.

She cared about Stefan and Damon, but now she was feeling something for someone else: Katherine. Although, she would never dare to admit it to anyone else, Katherine was growing on her.

Elena realized how much restraint Katherine was showing. Every time she talked to Katherine the elder vampire made an effort to remain truthful. As Elena walked to the entrance of the cave she smelled something: blood.

It wasn't human blood, if it was it would have been much more temping. She walked into the cave very slowly. She listened carefully for any sign of someone else in the cave.

She couldn't hear breathing, but she could tell someone else was there. She continued through the cave's tunnels until she came to an opening to a rock chamber. She dropped her flowers and stared in horror at the sight before her.

"Katherine."


	5. Angelic

Katherine slumped her head in the chair with her eyes closed. She'd been in the dungeon for well over a week. Everyday during that week Klaus had replaced almost every stake he'd tormented her with knew stakes that dripped with vervain.

The only stake he did not replace was the one in her throat. He didn't let her breathe or cough any of the blood out of her system. The only way for the blood to leave her lungs was by flowing around the stake in her chest, and even that didn't work.

Blood had dried on her chest but every once in a while new blood would push the old away as Katherine made a new attempt to breathe. Eventually she'd given up on breathing, but the blood came nonetheless.

She heard footsteps in the cave: Klaus. He'd come back to torture her again. It was a new twist she had to admit. Each day he only came once, tormenting her with stakes, cutting her with knives, or hitting her with a sharp stone he'd found in the cave.

Her cuts and bruises wouldn't heal, nothing healed. It was as if she were human in a sense. She couldn't heal, but she was still alive. The pain had begun to numb away, but the peaceful numbness never greeted her for very long.

Every several seconds after she went numb a new wave of excruciating pain washed over her. If she weren't so stubborn and strong she might have cried, but that wasn't the case.

She heard the footsteps get closer and she braced herself for the pain to come. What would come next? What new idea could Klaus possibly come up with today?

Her muscles hurt from being so tense, but she didn't care. It made the pain bearable. Katherine was stunned when she felt a hand on her cheek, a hand that did not belong to Klaus.

It wasn't tormenting her so it definitely couldn't be Klaus. It was caressing her cheek and comforting her.

"Katherine," she heard a familiar voice say.

Why was the voice so familiar? She knew she'd heard that voice before, but with the pain of her wounds she couldn't think straight. She opened her eyes and tilted her head up to see a set of brown eyes identical to her own.

"Elena," she tried to say, but with the stake in her throat it only came out as a choking sound.

"Shh, it's okay," Elena said softly, caressing her doppelganger's cheek with her thumb, "I'll get you out."

She watched Katherine nod and scanned Katherine's body, as beautiful as it usually was; now it was battered and broken. Cuts and bruises covered her flesh and a total of seven stakes were jutting out of her skin.

She started with the bands around Katherine's ankles and wrists, pulling them away and wincing as small burns appeared on her fingertips. Although she'd moved the chains Katherine couldn't move yet.

Elena began with the stake she thought would cause Katherine the least amount of pain by pulling out: the one in her knee. With the stake in that position her knee had been dislocated, and it was almost cutting through her flesh.

She wrapped her fingers around the stake, but was hesitant before pulling it out. She saw Katherine nod at her again, pushing her on. Elena took a deep breath and counted to three in her mind.

She pulled the stake out quickly, trying not to put Katherine in more pain, but that seemed impossible. She saw Katherine's fingers curl around the edge of the wooden armrest and her nails dig into the wood.

"I'm sorry," Elena said, trying to give as much comfort possible.

_Keep going_, Katherine mouthed.

Elena nodded and moved to the stake in her calf, pulling it out with less hesitation. She could hear Katherine's nails scratching the wood as the pulled the stake out.

Elena continued in her work. She pulled the stakes out of Katherine's arms and shoulder. When she got to Katherine's chest and throat she wasn't sure which one to pull.

She moved her hand from Katherine's cheek to take the elder vampire's hand in her own. With her free hand she grabbed the stake in Katherine's chest. She tried to pull it out quickly, but it was too deep.

The stake moved slowly, no matter how hard Elena tugged. Katherine's hand squeezed her the entire time she moved the stake. When it was finally out of Katherine's chest blood gushed from the wound, covering the ground in a crimson pool.

Elena moved the stake from Katherine's throat with ease. She tried to help Katherine out of the chair, but her elder doppelganger was stubborn. Katherine attempted to stand on her own, but collapsed to her hands and knees coughing the blood out of her lungs.

Katherine knelt, she was in pain, but most of all she was ashamed. She never showed anyone such weakness, much less Elena. She had no choice but to kneel and cough up the blood.

She felt Elena's hand hold her hair behind her shoulders. Her younger doppelganger was rubbing small circles on her back comfortingly. It had probably been a half hour before Katherine stopped coughing blood.

Far too weak to stand, she remained on her hands and knees, breathing heavily in order to regain strength. The wounds weren't healing. Katherine had expected they wouldn't.

"Can you walk?" Elena asked, still rubbing circles on Katherine's back.

Katherine tried to stand, but it was a failed attempt. She shook her head, her throat still in far too much agony to speak.

"Okay," Elena replied, a kind expression on her features.

The elder vampire felt the younger take her arm and place it around her shoulders, supporting her.

As Elena stood Katherine's grip tightened on her shoulders, her knees buckled once in the attempt to stand, but Elena held on. She kept Katherine steady as she stood with her.

She knew Katherine would be too stubborn to let Elena carry her. She put her arm around Katherine's waist, holding her steady as they took one step forward. Their pace slightly increased until they were out of the cave.

Katherine winced and put a hand over the hole the stake created in her chest and nearly fell to her knees. Elena moved them to the nearest tree and watched as Katherine put her free hand on the bark to support herself.

"It's okay," Elena said, her arm never moving from Katherine's waist, "we'll stop when you need to."

Katherine nodded, but she wasn't feeling well enough to go anywhere. Black spots danced in her vision and her head was swimming. Her strength was fading more and more as the time went by and she wasn't sure what to do.

She needed blood. That was the only answer she could think of, but at this pace she wouldn't be able to get any before she started to desiccate. She nodded to Elena and started to move again, but this time she decided to speed at a vampire's pace.

Elena kept up with her, never leaving Katherine's side as they sped through the forest. Elena heard Katherine's breath catch in her throat and pulled them to a stop.

She watched Katherine carefully, noticing the raggedness of her breath. She held Katherine closer to her.

"You okay?" she asked.

She could see Katherine was about to respond, but her knees buckled and Elena caught the elder vampire just before she hit the ground.

"Apparently not," Elena muttered to herself as she hooked her arms around Katherine, carrying her through the woods.

She sped back to her house, knowing the Salvatores wouldn't want to have saved Katherine in the first place. Elena brought an unconscious Katherine up to her room and laid her gently on the bed.

Elena disappeared but when she returned she was at Katherine's side, sitting on the edge of the bed with a blood bag. She gently lifted Katherine's head and put the blood bag to her lips.

Katherine opened her eyes as she felt the familiar taste of blood in her mouth. She was too weak to stand or get up, but she felt somewhat stronger with the blood flowing down her throat every time she swallowed.

She drank until the bag was completely empty, but was comforted by the fact that Elena's hand never left the back of her head. Katherine attempted to sit up, feeling new strength from the blood, but a gentle touch pushed her back down onto the pillow.

Katherine looked up at Elena, her eyes still revealed everything she felt. She was worried, very worried. Katherine was about to speak when Elena started stroking her hair.

Katherine was nearly content when she felt another wave of pain hit her. She tried to conceal it but she knew Elena heard her whimper. She shut her eyes and felt Elena's arms wrap protectively around her.

She was descending into oblivion, nearly unconscious, content in Elena's arms.

"I love you too, Katherine," she heard Elena whisper in her ear.

The last thing she felt before drifting to sleep was the angelic touch of Elena's lips on her forehead, and in that moment she knew what love was.

**AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Couldn't wait to upload this until tomorrow so I just decided to upload today. Hope you enjoyed it and I'll try to update again in the next few days.**


	6. The Hunt

Elena woke the next morning with her chin gently rested on a brown head of curly hair. Her arms were still wrapped around Katherine's sleeping form and she let a smile cross her lips.

The muscles in Katherine's shoulders stiffened and the older vampire groaned in her sleep. Elena raised her eyebrow, wondering what was going on. She pulled Katherine closer to her, letting the brown head rest in the crook of her shoulder.

Katherine woke, but didn't open her eyes. It took a few moments to remember exactly what happened the day before. Elena had saved her. Elena had brought her back and kept her safe.

She sighed and opened her eyes, looking up at Elena whose expression still showed concern. She smiled at Elena.

"Thank you," she whispered into her ear.

"You're welcome," Elena said, running her fingers through Katherine's hair.

Katherine couldn't deny she was enjoying being in Elena's company, but what was she doing? She was Katherine Pierce. She didn't need to be protected or coddled by anyone.

It was Elena. So many of her emotions came out around her. It felt natural, as if she were human again. She cursed herself mentally. She wasn't human. She was what everyone else thought she was: a monster.

She killed and she enjoyed it. She lied and she manipulated because it was the only way she knew how to survive. She wasn't going to give that up for some girl. Elena may have saved her life, but it didn't mean Katherine could change.

When Elena was around she tried to have her humanity, oh how she tried. It was too much. The pain and guilt from killing was too much. Katherine was not a coward but she was not a fool either. She knew turning on her humanity was a bad idea, and decided it would be best if she left it off and stayed away from Elena.

In the current situation, staying away from Elena was impossible. She squirmed her way out of Elena's arms, though somewhere deep in Katherine's heart she missed the feel of her doppelganger's touch.

She was cold as she sat up, concealing the cry of pain that threatened to escape her throat. Her cold shields covered her heart and she put a hand to her chest. The other stake wounds had healed but the hole in her chest was still slightly opened.

Katherine refused to show weakness. She refused to show Elena she was in pain. She couldn't have anyone knowing how she truly felt. She took a few seconds, breathing in and out, concentrating on making the pain bearable and keeping her shield from humanity up.

That changed when she felt Elena's hand on top of her own. Her shield nearly crumpled until it was no longer existent. Her humanity nearly burst out of control. She put her walls up again, ignorant to Elena's confession the previous day.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked, her voice full of affection and anxiety.

Katherine refused to look at her. She refused to look into Elena's warm brown eyes. It was too much. There was too much innocence in her twin's beautiful eyes, too much that she could have been but chose not to be.

For so long Katherine had kept her humanity away, telling herself she was a monster. She knew it was the truth. She'd killed. She'd tortured. She'd done so many things a vampire with humanity wouldn't have been proud of, but she was.

"I'm fine," Katherine easily lied. She stood from the bed and stretched, feeling Elena's eyes on her.

She cocked her hip and let her hand rest on it, giving Elena a raise of her eyebrow and a signature smirk. Elena stood directly in front of her. It took all Katherine's willpower not to voluntarily let her walls shatter for the girl.

"You're not fine," it was a statement, not a question.

"Why would you say that?" Katherine asked.

Elena pressed her hand on Katherine's chest, directly over where the hole was. Katherine couldn't help when her breath hitched in her throat. She knew Elena heard it. Her doppelganger removed her hand from the hole.

"It'll be fine," Katherine said nonchalantly, "I'll go get some blood and it will heal."

"I can give you blood if you need it," Elena said, doing everything in her power to help Katherine.

"No thanks," Katherine said, "but I prefer my blood fresh."

"Katherine," Elena sighed, "don't hurt-"

Katherine sped away from Elena's house before her twin had time to say more. She couldn't take Elena's disapproval. She ran to the house Isobel had previously owned.

She kicked the door open and slammed it shut after she walked inside. Her heels clicked against the wooden floor as she paced the foyer. Her breathing was heavy from frustration.

What was she doing? Her humanity threatened to come out every time she was with Elena. Her fingers gripped her scalp, and her fingernails dug into the skin. Still pacing, she let out a primal growl.

_I'm a monster, _she thought to herself, _I'm a cold blooded, heartless, remorseless, monster._

She needed something. She needed something to confirm her thoughts. She was a monster; she knew it all too well. Finally after a half hour of pacing and telling herself she was a monster she figured out what she needed: blood.

Her supernatural speed came in handy as she ran to the many bottles of 'wine' Isobel had in her pantry. They were all filled with blood, and Katherine took the first one she could find.

The bottle was empty in less than thirty seconds, and her chin and clothes were stained with blood. She put her first bottle on the counter and grabbed a second, draining it within the same amount of time.

When she finished the fifth bottle she threw it against the wall. It shattered and the crimson stained glass fell all over the floor. In her rage Katherine threw every empty bottle on the counter against the wall.

"What is wrong with me?" she yelled into the emptiness of the house.

The vampire was panting, trying to release her anger. Her humanity was crawling over the walls she had built to keep it under control.

This blood wasn't enough for her. It wasn't warm; she couldn't feel the pulse fading as she took a sip. She needed fresh blood. She didn't need to drink; she needed to feed.

Her logic told her it would be foolish to kill someone around noon. Against her primal instincts she forced herself to stay inside until nightfall, seething and waiting for the moments when she'd feel a human's neck snap underneath her hands.

Just before nightfall she changed into tight black jeans, a slightly revealing black shirt and a leather jacket. She chose one of the least revealing in her closet because that night wasn't about lust, it was about hunger, plus she didn't want blood all over her chest.

She walked through the streets of Mystic Falls, careful to avoid anyone Elena might know, but that night she saw none of Elena's friends, the game was already turning in her favor.

Several blocks away from the Grill she saw twelve druggies in an alleyway. Katherine knew they wouldn't have the finest blood she'd ever taste, but it didn't matter. She needed something, anything, to satisfy the hunger.

She walked into the alley. She could hear the pumping of every human's blood. The pounding of their hearts was too much. It was like a drum, vexing her until it pushed her to commit the act.

She shut the gate to the alleyway behind her as she walked in. The druggies looked at her but only one made a move towards her.

"You got anything?" he asked, his tone different from the drugs.

Katherine felt the blood rush to her eyes and her fangs brush against her tongue.

"What the-" he cut himself off with a cry as Katherine's fangs entered his neck.

She drained him in such quick time that she snapped his neck before any of the other druggies had turned to look at the scene. She moved onto the next man, his blood tasting delicious as it streamed down her throat.

She enjoyed the feel of his neck cracking underneath her hand as she twisted it in an impossible direction. Another druggie walked up to her with a baseball bat.

"Stay back," he said, waving it at her.

Katherine tossed the baseball bat aside and drove her fangs as far into the man's neck as they would go. The blood streamed onto her face and into her mouth. She didn't need mortal drugs; blood was her drug and in that moment no intervention could stop her.

As she moved to the fourth, which was a woman, she sunk her fangs into the human's neck and chuckled at how weak they were. The crack of the woman's neck was audible to everyone in the alley. Her lip twitched into a smirk as she saw the other druggies running for their lives.

Her eyes turned pitch black from hunger. She watched her prey scatter towards the back of the alley, avoiding any public streets. That only made the game more enjoyable. She was the monster again and she was on the hunt.


	7. Hope

The older vampire stepped into the shower, her shoulders relaxing as the steaming water rolled off her back. Somehow her hunger still hadn't been sated, though it seemed impossible. She had killed over twenty victims the night before and drained every drop of blood from each body. Still she felt empty.

Katherine shivered, not from temperature, but her mind was unraveling. She quickly shut off the water and dressed herself in whatever was available at the moment. Her hair was still incredibly damp as she walked down the stairs.

She paced the foyer, an activity she found herself doing surprisingly regularly. Everything was too much. Her walls were crumbling but her mind was crumbling faster.

The humanity within her was shattering nearly beyond the point of repair. The pain she felt was an unknown pain, and completely new. Every moment she concealed her humanity was a crack in her mind.

Katherine collapsed to her knees. It was too much. The pain. The remorse. The sadness. She could no longer control her mind, no longer capable of restraining the memories that flooded her.

Every kill she'd ever made flashed through her mind, from last to first. The kills from the night before, the feel of their blood running down her throat, and every snapped neck brought a wave of unbearable grief.

She screamed out into the empty halls, knowing no one would hear her cries. She was alone, as she'd always been. She was alone and lost.

Elena walked into her blonde friend's bedroom. Bonnie called and had told her the blonde hadn't moved from her bed since the day before. She was mourning, and Elena saw the puffiness of her friend's eyes.

"Hey," Elena said softly as she sat next to Caroline on the blonde's bed. The blonde didn't speak.

She ran her fingers through Caroline's hair, attempting to comfort her in any way possible. Elena sighed as Caroline tensed. The blonde hadn't spoken to her since Tyler's death.

Elena continued to stroke Caroline's hair, waiting for the moment when her friend would talk. The moment never came, and when she saw her friend's mother in the doorway she knew it was time to leave.

She sighed as she sat up from the blonde's bed, nodding to her mother in assurance she was leaving.

"Thank you," she heard Caroline mumble.

Elena smiled. She'd gotten Caroline to at least talk once, and that was enough for her. She turned to leave but she felt slight pain in her head. She put a hand to her temple before collapsing to her knees.

Visions flashed through her mind. Murders. So many murders, but she saw herself committing them. She shook her head as she found herself in an alley in the middle of the night.

"I didn't do this!" she yelled at herself in the alley.

"Elena?" she heard in the distance, but it was too far away for her to care, she couldn't take her eyes off the scene.

She heard the snap of the man's neck and watched as he was thrown into the dumpster. _I didn't do this_, Elena thought to herself. She saw herself turn and stared into the vision's eyes. Brown curls cascaded down her shoulders and the veins below her eyes rushed with blood.

_Katherine._

Elena gasped and bolted up as she opened her eyes, hands on her shoulders pushing her gently down. Elena's eyes met Caroline's and her breathing instantly became calmer.

"What happened?" Caroline asked, "You were leaving and then you collapsed, I thought you were dying or something!"

Elena shook her head, still in too much shock to speak. Caroline comfortingly rubbed her friend's shoulder, absolutely confused.

"I have to go," Elena said as she stood from the bed, walking to Caroline's door.

"Wait," Caroline said, "'Lena!"

Elena didn't hear, she sped from the house faster than she meant to. She didn't want to make Caroline think it was her fault but she had to figure out what was going on. She went back to her house as fast as she could.

Bursting through the door she called, "Katherine!" but received no reply. She panicked, something was wrong and she had no idea how much longer until another vision came.

Elena paced for fifteen minutes until she finally came up with another idea: Isobel's old house. It had to be where Katherine was. If Katherine wasn't there she was certain something bad was going to happen.

She ran through the woods as fast as her vampire speed would possibly take her, arriving at the house in a few minutes. Slamming the door open she looked around, her eyes frantically searching everything she could see.

"Katherine!" she called, speeding into the kitchen, worrying as she saw the broken bottles on the floor.

"Katherine!" she yelled out again, hoping for some answer.

Katherine had managed to crawl up the stairs after the visions started. Every vision was worse than the last. She had crumpled to the floor, unable to stand, unable to do anything. She whimpered as she scratched her nails into the wooden floor, wondering how much longer she would have to endure before death welcomed her with open arms.

Elena heard a whimper come from upstairs. She ran up, at human speed, too tired to use her supernatural gifts. She didn't have to turn before she smelled the blood. Running into the room on her right, she found who she was looking for. She knelt next to her twin, assessing the damage. Her doppelganger was barely moving, much less breathing. Elena sat and lifted Katherine gently into her lap. Katherine groaned in resistance, but was too weak to do anything about it.

Elena felt Katherine lying limp in her arms. There was no sign of life, even for the beautiful vampire. Though Katherine was still alive, Elena could clearly see she was fading. Her arm was covered in scratches that wouldn't heal and her opposite hand's fingernails were covered in blood.

"Katherine," Elena said softly, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible, though it was about to crack, "What's happening?"

"Memories," Katherine whispered, her shallow breath rattled in her throat.

"Are those the visions?" Elena asked, gently placing her hand behind Katherine's head, making sure it was supported while her other hand took Katherine's.

Katherine nodded, her eyes glimmered with unshed tears, but her eyebrow rose.

"You saw them?" Katherine asked. Her voice strained from the effort.

Elena nodded, and when her doppelganger's hand squeezed her own she didn't flinch. She returned the gesture affectionately.

"Turn on your humanity," Elena said after suddenly coming up with an idea.

"What?" Katherine asked, utterly confused.

"Turn it on," Elena repeated.

Katherine unconsciously nuzzled into Elena's embrace, resting her head against her twin's chest.

"No," Katherine said sternly.

"Katherine-"

"I can't," the elder vampire interrupted.

"Why not?"

"Too much," Katherine replied.

"I know how much you've lost, Katherine," Elena said, her voice brimful with sympathy. "I don't know how much you've taken from people but I know what it's like to feel guilt."

Katherine refused to show what she was feeling. She refused to turn on her humanity, even for Elena. Though her heart screamed to come alive for the girl the logic in Katherine refused.

"I told you, Elena," Katherine said, her voice quivering and her hand slightly shook in Elena's, "I can't."

"I'll help you," Elena said, holding Katherine's hand steady.

"Why?"

"Because," Elena paused, her voice catching in her throat, "I love you, Katherine."

Katherine shook her head, "Don't say that."

"Why not?"

"It's not true," Katherine whispered.

"What?" Elena asked, "Of course it's true."

"No," Katherine replied forcefully, "it's not."

Elena removed her hand from Katherine's and stroked the elder vampire's cheek. The warmth radiated from her hand to Katherine, and gave the vampire something she hadn't felt in a long time.

"I will help you, Katherine. I won't leave you to deal with this alone. I just need you to trust me and turn your humanity back on."

Katherine shook her head, "Elena, I-"

She was interrupted when Elena pressed her lips to hers. In one instant everything Katherine had built to keep her heart safe, everything she had done to make sure love didn't find it's way in, was destroyed. The emotions flooded back through her like a wave. The things she didn't dare to feel came back in an instant. All the guilt, pain, sadness, joy, sorrow, and other emotions came all at once. She tried to fight the wave down, to turn her humanity off again, but it was useless. Elena had dragged her under the wave.

It was drowning her. Tears flooded Katherine's eyes and ran down her cheeks, she never took her lips from Elena's. Elena had pulled her under the wave and fought to bring her back to the surface. Not once could Katherine remember anyone being so kind, so compassionate.

After five hundred years of simply existing and surviving Katherine found the one person who could give her what she needed: hope.


	8. I Don't Know

Katherine stared out the window into the forest. At first glance it would seem she was watching the birds and the other forest animals. In reality, she was considering the events in her life. What was she doing? There was so much she didn't understand.

She wasn't sure what to feel when it came to her younger doppelganger. Yes, she felt something. It was so deeply buried in her heart she was unsure of what it was. At first she simply thought it was a slight liking, but it grew stronger. She sighed as the animals retreated from the view of the window.

She couldn't deal with what she felt. She didn't know how. She knew the consequences for turning off her humanity, and she would not go through that again. She attempted to put up some of her walls again, to become only slightly cold, not a complete monster.

The soft pair of lips that suddenly pressed against her own shattered her small walls yet again. They pulled away too soon for Katherine's liking. She stared into her twin's brown eyes as they stared into hers.

"Don't do that," Elena said.

Katherine sighed, "Do what?"

"Try to ignore your feelings," Elena responded, "You're not putting up anymore walls with me."

Katherine felt the doubt pile in the pit of her stomach. She'd been trying for the younger vampire. She'd let Elena help her control the bloodlust. It had indeed been very helpful, but Katherine saw no point fighting what was in her nature, in her instincts.

"What am I to you?" Katherine asked out of the blue.

"Excuse me?" Elena asked, cocking her head to the side.

"What am I to you?" Katherine asked again, "Am I just some stray puppy you found on the street you think you can save? And when you're done _saving_ me what are you going to do? Toss me back on the street to go back to the way I was before?"

"Katherine," Elena said, "Where would you get that idea?"

The elder vampire shrugged. She'd always doubted others' true feelings, especially about her. Whenever someone would say love all Katherine felt was doubt. The only time she had truly felt love was during her time was a human, though now she could feel it seeping through to Elena.

Elena took Katherine's hand and felt the vampire flinch at her touch. She raised her eyebrow, but Katherine's eyes revealed nothing about her thoughts.

"I meant what I said yesterday," Elena said, "I love you. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I do love you."

Katherine said nothing, but she stiffened. Her throat closed, she couldn't seem to breathe. There were so much she wished she could tell the young vampire, but she knew it wouldn't help. The love she was dying to confess was devouring her from the inside out. It may have allowed her mind some rest, but Katherine knew it was only a matter of time before it struck again.

"Katherine," Elena said, deciding it was time for a change of subject, "Who tortured you the day I saved you?"

"Klaus," the elder vampire answered confidently.

Elena raised her eyebrow, "That's impossible," she replied, "Klaus is dead."

"Apparently not," her twin retorted, "He's in Tyler Lockwood's body. Must have had a witch help him."

"How?" Elena asked, "The only people to see Klaus' body were Damon, Stefan and-" she trailed off.

"And the Bennett," Katherine finished for her, "Your little witch friend doesn't seem to be as much help as you think."

"She must have had some reason," Elena said, trying to defend Bonnie, "There must be something she knew that we didn't."

"Like what?" Katherine asked, "Maybe your bloodline was descended from him?"

Elena stared at her doppelganger, "How do you know that?"

"I kept tabs on you while Stefan was doing his 'trying to go back to eating bunnies' act," Katherine drawled.

"But you weren't here when Matt drove off the bridge," Elena said.

Katherine nodded grimly, "No," she said quietly, but quickly regained her voice, "I wasn't. Though, when you died I could feel it. Like something in me died with you."

She felt Elena's eyes on her; she hadn't meant to admit that much to her so soon. Katherine searched for an escape route in her mind. There had to be something she could say to make that statement sound different.

"It must be a doppelganger thing," Elena said, trying not to push the elder vampire's boundaries.

"Yeah," Katherine said, clearing her throat, "I guess so."

Elena raised her eyebrow, "Okay, Katherine," she said, "What's bothering you?"

"What makes you think something's bothering me?" Katherine asked, trying to make her voice sound as innocent as possible.

The young vampire wasn't fooled.

"Katherine," Elena chided gently, knowing there was something going on behind her twin's brown eyes.

Katherine shook her head, "It's nothing," she said, trying to reassure the former human.

"I don't believe you," Elena replied, "I've seen that look too much on my face in the mirror to know something's up."

Katherine sighed. Sometimes she really wished she weren't a doppelganger, but then she would have never met her love. Though, she refused to admit to anyone, even herself, who they were.

"What do you feel?" Elena asked, knowing the elder doppelganger struggled with her humanity more than she cared to admit.

Katherine ran her fingers through her hair, scratching at her scalp and pacing several feet. She could feel Elena's eyes boring into her, as if they saw her soul, the one thing she never allowed anyone to see.

"I don't know," Katherine growled out, obviously frustrated.

Elena sighed, "Go to the basics," she said, "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, Elena!" Katherine yelled, causing the younger vampire to flinch. "Everything is mixing together! Anger, pain, sorrow, remorse, joy, love it's all blended and I can't differentiate!"

Elena watched as the elder doppelganger threw a glass vase into a wall. The glass shattered and the broken pieces spread all over the floor. Elena walked in front of Katherine, standing not even a foot away from her.

The elder vampire's eyes were blood red and the veins beneath her eyes rushed with blood, as they often did when she was angry. Katherine's eyes refused to meet Elena's.

She held Katherine's cheek in her hand, rubbing the contours of the veins underneath her eye gently with her thumb. Brown eyes met crimson and Elena could feel Katherine's muscles relax.

"Calm down," she told her doppelganger, watching as the veins retreated beneath her skin.

Katherine sighed, keeping her temper under control was not an activity she enjoyed, but as Elena's lips pressed against hers she instantly felt the rage fade. She could never be mad with the younger twin.

When Elena pulled from the kiss Katherine rested her forehead against her doppelganger's, simply enjoying the moment. She cherished the small affectionate moments Elena gave; she was so unfamiliar with them.

She felt Elena's arms wrap around her and felt Elena nuzzle her cheek against her own. Katherine gulped, and left her hands hovering. Then she quickly returned the embrace, trying to convey all the confessions of love she'd ever had in one moment.

Katherine wanted to break the hug. She didn't deserve the love Elena so easily gave. She didn't deserve the affection or compassion. Elena pulled them to the nearby couch and rested her head on the elder vampire's shoulder. Katherine ran her fingers through her twin's straight hair, wondering how long this 'love' would last.


	9. The Confession

The elder vampire sat straight up on her bed. Sweat poured from her forehead and her breathing was erratic. She couldn't take much more of the memories she continued to see every time she closed her eyes. She walked downstairs slowly, but not bothering to turn on any lights, she didn't want them.

She didn't bother with control when she grabbed a blood bag out of the refrigerator. The elder vampire tilted the blood bag and let it rush down her throat. The bag was emptied in seconds and as she looked in the mirror she saw the excess blood on her face.

It reminded her of how she used to look, how she looked after she had taken the life of a victim. She had to admit she missed the taste of warm blood in her mouth, but she could live without it. If drinking fresh blood meant she wouldn't have Elena she would gladly live without it.

Katherine paced the kitchen after throwing the empty bag in the trash can, wondering what exactly was wrong with her. She was Katherine Pierce and she could do what she wanted, take what she wanted, and she never had to apologize for her actions or take responsibility for them. She was manipulative and deceitful, cold and calculated, and she was heartless.

No, she couldn't be heartless. She couldn't be. If she were heartless how was it that she could love Elena. Her former self would have scoffed at the idea of loving anyone, much less the girl she had hated, but that seemed like such a long time ago. Now, whenever she saw Elena she was happy, truly happy. It seemed impossible, the last time she was truly happy was a time she couldn't remember, a time when she was human.

She shook her head. She wasn't human anymore. It was ridiculous for her to even try to remember that time. With Elena it seemed so easy. She was happy and peaceful. Without her the nightmares became worse, but the day she had seen her doppelgänger were days of absolute bliss. She knew Elena was the one, the one she wanted to spend eternity with, but there was something in the way. She was afraid.

Katherine scoffed: afraid? Katherine Pierce wasn't afraid of anything, not of Klaus, not of the Salvatores, and certainly not of a foolish human emotion that she shouldn't feel in the first place. However, in order to stop loving Elena she would have to turn off her humanity, and for whatever reason she could no longer seem to do that.

For a long time she thought of Elena. She thought of Elena's confession of love to her. Had she told anyone else of her love? What had she done? Katherine hit her forehead with her palm, she had been so concerned with her own problems she had forgotten Elena's.

She needed to tell her, but how? How could she? What could she say? The elder vampire looked at the clock. It was two o'clock in the morning. She was certain Elena would be sleeping, she could tell her later.

No. She couldn't tell her later. She needed her to know now. In a rush she sped up to her room and grabbed her leather jacket from her enormous closet. There was nothing and no one that would stop her. She refused to let anything come between them, not even the time.

She shut the door behind her but didn't bother to lock it. She'd compelled the real estate agent to put it in her and Elena's name but she'd also compelled bank employee to use the bank's money to pay for it. Humans were so gullible.

Katherine didn't bother getting her car. She ran straight into the forest, weaving through the trees and looking up at the moon and the stars. The moon wasn't full, so she didn't have to worry about any werewolves, but it was beautiful.

She came to the Gilbert house and decided it would wake the brother if she used the door. The tree outside Elena's window made excellent help for climbing. From the branch it was easy to open Elena's window and get inside her room.

Now came the hard part, waking Elena up. Katherine wondered how she should do it. She wasn't exactly one for being kind before. In the past she would have simply pushed her off the bed and let her tumble to the floor. She chuckled softly at the thought, but she was certain Elena wouldn't be so keen for that idea.

Katherine stared at Elena and became lost in the young vampire's beauty. They looked exactly alike, but there were so many differences between them. Katherine flaunted her beauty in a way that was seductive and charming, but also mysterious. She never let anyone have what they wanted without an ulterior motive. She used people to get what she wanted and made them like it.

Elena was different. Her beauty was pure, and yes, it was seductive, but so different from Katherine's. Elena's beauty made people curious to know her. It made people like her and adore her for whom she was. She didn't use people. She cared for others more than she cared for herself. Katherine wondered if she should try to change that, but decided against. She didn't want Elena to change, not for anyone.

The young vampire stirred in her sleep. Katherine saw her start to slip, and was there before she could hit the ground. She cradled her in her arms as she started to wake. Elena groaned and turned her head. Her eyes fluttered open and she raised her eyebrow.

"Katherine?" she asked groggily.

The elder vampire nodded, too nervous to speak. She sat Elena back up on her bed, but after a yawn, Elena stood. Katherine wanted to chuckle at the girl's attire. Elena wore fuzzy pajama pants and a tank top, where as Katherine would wear a silk robe. She put this out of her mind as she found her doppelgänger stared at her and raised her eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked, fully awake.

"I need to tell you something," Katherine said quickly, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Elena questioned.

"Yes, but that's not my point," Katherine rushed, eager to tell Elena how she really felt.

Elena walked to where Katherine stood near the window. The moonlight streamed inside, making the younger vampire look more beautiful than she already was, if it were possible, but for Katherine it wasn't. To her the moonlight was simply enhancing the features she already saw perfection in.

"What was it about this time?" Elena asked.

"Elena that's not why I'm here!" Katherine wanted to shout, but she kept her voice down in order not to wake Elena's brother.

"Okay," Elena said, dropping the subject of the nightmare for the moment, "Why are you here?"

"I feel like something's taken over me," Katherine started.

"Taken over you? Like magic?" Elena asked, automatically assuming something was wrong.

Katherine chuckled, "No. Like an emotion."

"An emotion has taken over you?" Elena asked, becoming confused. "Which one?'

"Love," Katherine admitted bashfully.

Elena raised her eyebrow again, "Katherine, what are you talking about? What are you trying to-"

Katherine interrupted her by placing her lips on hers. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't be patient. Her eyes were shut, but she could feel Elena's response.

At first the girl was surprised and her muscles stiffened, but she relaxed. Katherine felt the younger vampire's arms round her neck, and in response she wrapped her own arms around Elena's waist, pulling her close.

The kiss was long and passionate. Katherine tried to convey every expression of love she'd ever wanted to confess. When Elena pulled away she put her forehead against the younger vampire's gently, staring into her twin brown eyes.

"I love you."

Elena's face turned to confusion as she slightly pulled away from Katherine, making it so their foreheads were no longer touching.

"What?" she asked, not sure if she heard correctly.

"I love you, Elena," Katherine said again, "I've wanted to tell you so many times before now but-"

Now it was Katherine's turn to be interrupted. Elena pressed her lips against the elder vampire's out of pure joy. Tears ran down her cheeks as she tightened her grip around Katherine's neck and she smiled into the kiss.

Katherine returned the kiss with passion. She grabbed Elena's waist and twirled the girl in her arms, never breaking the kiss. After several moments of bliss she pulled away, missing the feeling of Elena's lips on hers.

"I couldn't wait any longer to tell you," Katherine admitted.

Elena smiled and more tears ran down her cheeks. She was about to move her arms from Katherine's neck to wipe them away, feeling foolish for crying, but Katherine beat her to it. She felt the elder vampire's lips against her cheek where the tears flowed, kissing them away.

She watched Katherine do the same with her other cheek and removed her arms from Katherine's neck as she felt the elder vampire's arms move away from her waist.

"I just wanted to tell you," Katherine said, "I'll go. You need your sleep." Katherine turned to the window but Elena quickly grabbed the elder vampire's wrist.

"Wait," she said, turning Katherine around, "Stay."

Katherine sighed, "Elena you need sleep."

"I know," Elena replied, "but please stay. I'll sleep better while you're here."

Katherine considered her options, but nodded, not having the heart to refuse the girl. She allowed Elena to lead her to the bed. A thousand different possibilities rushed into the elder vampire's head, but she wouldn't rush Elena into anything.

She let Elena crawl under the covers first, and followed after. She smiled as Elena scooted closer to her. The girl wrapped her arm around Katherine's waist and laid her head in the crook of the elder vampire's neck. Katherine wrapped her arms around Elena and rested her head gently on top of hers.

"Oh, by the way," Elena whispered, and Katherine could hear the sleepiness in her voice.

"I love you too."


End file.
